Consumer News: Best Buy Hits Reset Button to Appeal to Investors

Plus, the Apple stores are unbearably noisy.

Stay Connected

This column highlights the most interesting and useful business and financial commentary on consumer companies from around the Web.

CNBC
Link: Best Buy Hits Reset to Win Back Wall Street
"After barely recovering from the JC Penney (NYSE:JCP) analyst day on Friday, Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) is pulling out its own version of persuading the Street to keep hope alive. I am sure the Tuesday analyst day in New York City will not disappoint.

"As a little preview, reports over the weekend suggest Sharon McCollam, former chief financial officer at Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM), will take over the CFO position."

"The Japanese giant has a lot at stake when it comes to the Wii U, which some have criticized as a not-quite-next-generation console that is about as powerful as Sony's (NYSE:SNE) six-year-old PlayStation 3. Nintendo began advertising the system in earnest last week to convince gamers otherwise. We spoke with Moffitt about Nintendo's approach, the ad campaign, and its timing."

ReadWriteLink: Someone Goofed, And Apple's New 'Prototype' Store Is Unbearably Noisy
"Two weeks ago Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) unveiled a huge and glorious new retail store on University Avenue in Palo Alto, Calif., right in the heart of Silicon Valley. As you'd expect from Apple, the new 5,000-square-foot emporium is an architectural marvel, with glass walls, a curved glass roof and that fancy Italian stone that Steve Jobs loved so much. Apple calls it a 'prototype' for future Apple stores.

"There's just one problem. The new flagship store is 'unpleasantly, almost unbearably noisy,' according to Jean-Louis Gassee, a former top Apple executive, who writes in his weekly 'Monday Note' blog that the sound levels in the store are not just annoying - they're dangerously high."